Preparation for Persecution

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (Mat 5:10-12)

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, "Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Luke 6:20-38)


These two passages are the conclusion of the Beatitudes. However, it is well worth the time to study these portions of Scripture with greater diligence, especially as it concerns certain trends in our political, societal, and religious structures.

It is commonly taught that there are special blessings to be attached to each portion of the Beatitudes, and that is true enough. However, the key to these passages lies in the statements: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."  (Matt 5:10-12). And from Luke 6, "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets."

It is now apparent that Jesus' topic is the disposition of the church during times of trial, persecution, and suffering. In the book of James we are told that we should not be laying up riches and treasures for ourselves hear on earth, because they are temporary and will eventually pass away. Further, He makes us the promise that if we as Christians suffer and have sorrows here on earth, we will gain peace, joy, laughter, and eternal wealth beyond measure in the Kingdom.

However, Jesus also gives a warning to those who have all of the comforts that this life can afford. There will be a day when they will not avail their owners anything. This is especially addressed to those who deceive people into believing that all is well, as is seen by the last statement Jesus makes comparing to those who were false prophets.

The issue then can be seen that Jesus is truly saying that we are to be even as He was at His trial and crucifixion. We are told in Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Further, He commands us to not judge or condemn, but to rather forgive and pray for those who our persecutors. Again, His own example is our guide for He cried from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

We have seen an increasing opposition to those who desire to claim Jesus Christ as their God and King here in the United States. From private companies being required to pay for abortions via insurance even against their conscience to the recent ban on religious conversations between soldiers with the aim of conversion, even at the instigation of the one seeking additional information, from schools singling out crosses to the legal harassment of businesses and individuals opposing gay marriage, there has a been a steady rise in Anti-Christian sentiment. Further, there are those who such at the Southern Poverty Law Center who declare those with firm Biblical beliefs to be "hate groups". How many times have we Christians heard the educational elite refer to us as 'ignorant', 'stupid', and any number of other derogatory descriptions.

It should be obvious that such attacks are waxing and not on the wane. This is why Jesus told us to rejoice, leap for joy, and be exceeding glad. It is because if we are suffering persecution for His name, then we are in the same conditions as the prophets of old who stood against the tide and prophesied the eminent destruction of their nation. However, we are warning people to turn to Jesus Christ for their salvation, because the time is coming when He will return and judge every nation and all people.

Let us prepare ourselves for the oncoming wave of persecution, for it will intensify from now until the coming of our Lord. Let us show our light by being ever more gracious in the face of persistent hostility, holding no grudges, and helping those who have and maybe will hurt us. This is the command that was given in these passages. My friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us now practice obedience to our Lord's commands while it is easy to do so, rather than build anger and resentment concerning our treatment, and then attempting to follow the order when it is much more difficult.

May God help and keep us all during the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.

Praying for God's Mercy for our Enemies

I am far from being a squishy bleeding hearted liberal, but God has dealt with me in a rather unusual way concerning the proper Christian response to the Boston Marathon bomber that is being held. Further, He also dealt with me concerning a proper response to all terrorist activities, as well as our conflicts with other nations.

Last week, I was as shocked and horrified as anyone to hear about the bombing of the Boston Marathon. In the course of the next few days, I prayed that the terrorists who were responsible would be brought to justice, but my heart was very heavy with mourning. This did not change even as the dragnet brought both men into the light and to justice.

I began to seek the Lord concerning the heaviness of my spirit, especially as opposed to the fury and rage that I heard from other quarters. Then the Lord began to speak to me saying, "You feel the call of My Spirit calling you to pray for your enemies. I commanded that you love and pray for those who are your enemies. This young man is one of many that you have, and so I have given you a burden to pray for him."

Then Jesus took me to Matt. 5:44-45 and Luke 6:27-28, 35-36. Further, He instructed me to not pray for judgment upon this terrorist, but rather that he be shown the love and mercies of God. He told me of His desire to see this young Muslim brought into the full light of the truth. Then He continued to take me through His Word.

"How many people revere the Apostle Paul for his actions in spreading the Gospel throughout the world, writing letters to the churches, and providing crucial leadership to the Gentile churches? Yet, he was just such a man as this. He was present at the stoning of Stephen, and terrorized the saint in the churches of Israel and the surrounding lands. But look what My mercy wrought in him. I can take the darkest life, and make it clean. But who will stand in prayer to see that My mercy is brought forth?"

I know that this will not be a popular concept, nor will it even be accepted even by most who claim to be Christian, but God has said that we should not be angry with the terrorists, for they are in bondage to the deceptions of Satan, which is a fate far worse than death. We should rather then mourn for them as those who perish if they are not reached in time.

As Christians, we are called to be a light, and to reach with the Gospel to every sin stained soul. This is whether or not they deserve the mercy that we request for them. Are we not all guilty too often of the shedding of blood in the privacy of our own hearts? Are we then not under the same Divine penalty as Dzhakhar Tsarnaer and his brother? Have we not often been guilty of anger with another without cause, and had to repent? Have we not been guilty of hundreds of infractions of the Law as this young man?

"As I have shown great mercy toward you, so you should be willing to show great mercy to those who have hurt you, and are your enemy," was also told me by Jesus.

I now ask, will you join with me in asking for the mercies of God to be extended to this terrorist, no matter what the final outcome of his prosecution by the government. He will have to pay his debt to the society that he flagrantly attacked, but this is not a legitimate cause to hate him. Let us then pray that the Lord will open his eyes to the full truth of both his great crimes, but also to his need for Jesus Christ to become the Savior that He died on the cross to be for all of us.

Let us become more like the Christ we claim and say with Him as He hung upon the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:24)

Where is your heart?

"Do you love me, or do you simply like me?"

While driving, I felt the Spirit ask me this question. I had to stop and very seriously consider this question, and all that it by nature entails. If I like Him, then I will visit Him on regularly at His house, tell others about His greatness, and encourage others to make His acquaintance. That is very easily done. But to actually love Him?

That would mean that I would mean that I would need to change everything in my life that He is not happy with, because I wish to please Him. I would want to be more like Him, desire to be more acceptable in His eyes. I would have to talk to Him, and study the Book that He has asked me to read.

How many times do we as Christians claim that we love Jesus, but then only wish to spend only a few hours in His presence, reading His Word, or having anything to do with Him? Do we love Him or do we merely like Him?

I have heard 'Christians' say that they do not wish to have a deeper walk with God because of what they would have to surrender. I have heard them say, "I do not believe that it is necessary to do all of that extra stuff. I go to church on Sunday morning and am a good Christian. More than that is not required." How can you truly love someone that you only wish to spend a couple of hours a week with?

The problem is truly one of a misplaced heart. When one truly falls in love with Jesus, all of the things that one must change becomes a bit easier, because He is the one that is asking. You will desire to do anything to please Him and make Him happy. Thus, the line of the song is fulfilled that says, "The things of this world will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

I had a couple of songs come to mind recently, and they each seemed to reflect the attitudes that we can take towards our Lord. The first is the new song, 'I am a Friend of God.' It is fast with an upbeat feel to it. It stirs the blood and encourages a lot of excitement. However, while all of these things are good, they are still shallow emotions that are swiftly replaced.

The second song is older and says:

More than anything,

More than anything,

I love You, Jesus,

More than anything.

More than worldly wealth,

More than life itself,

I love You, Jesus,

More than anything.

Are you going to learn to love Him more than anything else this world can offer? That is the true question. What will you do with a King who loved His rebellious subjects so much that He laid aside His crown, became like one of them, died in the place of those rebels, and then offered pardon to any who would ask?

The question is simple, but the answer to that will make all the difference in the world.

Does the Church Need to Be Culturally Relevant?

Is it possible for the Church to be culturally relevant? Should it be attempting to redeem the culture? Or are these questions a symptom of deeper problems in the lives of Christians?

I have been hearing that we must 'engage the culture', 'redeem the culture', be 'culturally relevant', along with many other catch phrases. These are common both in conservative and liberal elements of Christianity. Often, this is followed by encouraging people to become active in the entertainment industry, politics, and other similar areas. However, is this truly effective?

There are many problems with Christians and the church attempting to stay culturally relevant. These include the introduction of non-biblical elements into teaching and preaching, the drawing of analogies that have nothing to do with Scripture or the Christian life from strange sources, the dilution of doctrine, and the erosion of Christian values.

Most Christian denominations have been attempting to remain 'relevant' for more than 100 years. It started when the certain theologians started to embrace a skeptical outlook on Scripture and embracing the principles of German philosophical criticisms of Christianity. These lead many to start questioning the inspiration of Scripture, the allegorical interpretation of most passages, and the critique that the Bible was not scientifically or rationally acceptable.

This liberalizing trend continued into the late 1800s with the advent of the "Social Gospel" which stated that the Gospel was to bring about concern for all mankind, the advancement of the social welfare, aiding the poor, and many other things. While these are good, those who promoted this new "Gospel" chose to ignore the doctrines of sin and the redemption from that sad state. This lead to many becoming involved in 'Christian Socialism' in Europe and America. This used Christian principles to attempt to eliminate poverty, inequality, and other 'social sins'.

We have the adherents of these teachings with us today. Many of them are located in the Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal/Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. They are easily seen by their emphasis on poverty, inequality, ecumenicalism, little emphasis on redemption from sin, and a lack of interest in Biblical doctrine or condemnations of sin. Churches, preachers, and minsters that promote same-sex unions, do not condemn abortion, question the authority of the Bible, and wish to make the Bible gender-neutral (and some Methodist and Presbyterian organizations the trinitarian understanding of the Godhead as well).

On the Evangelical/Fundamentalist side of the equation, the questions were not concerning authority of Scripture, but rather as the world began to change their modes of dress and entertainment, they changed their standards to match that of the culture, thus in the early 1900s television, movies, cut hair, immodest apparel, and make-up were all preached against. During the 1920s, as young women began to shorten sleeves, hem-lines, cut their hair, wear make-up, attend movies, and eventually embraced the television as well.

During the 1940s, this began to affect the Holiness/Pentecostal denominations/organizations that were formed during the late 1800s and early 1900s and which were not involved in the fundamentalist/progressive controversies. The church of the Nazarene suffered a split in 1958 over these very issues among others. The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and the Assemblies of God both began to change during this time, and the Church of God followed in the 1970s. Many of these no longer believe that there is a necessity to look any different from the world.

This has lead to the trends with televangelists becoming a laughing stock in society, and preachers being concerned solely with financial wealth and material gain. Some of those who were involved with these scandals were the Bakkers, Swaggert, Roberts, Robertson, among others.

This has also lead to them trying to find celebrities, actors/actresses, singers, and musicians in the popular culture to be role models for their children. They attempt to find 'Christian themes' in various movies and television shows (regardless of the dubious moral content), and popular secular music. Further, this pursuit of cultural significance has lead them to 'modernize' the church services for young people to include, moving lights, video clips, themes from popular songs, books, television, and movies.

The end result is that rather than being more relevant, they make themselves of less relevance. Why should people attend a church service that sounds, and looks like a rock concert when they can simply attend the real thing? Thus, these churches give their children a taste for the world while inoculating them to the truths and principles of Scripture.

This leads to the question, should the Apostolic/Pentecostal churches pursue this course of cultural relevance?

The answer must be a firm and solid, "NO!!"

Rather than attempting to be more relevant and culturally accommodating, we must rather be confrontational. I am not meaning that we should be mean, hateful, argumentative, cruel, vengeful, and intentionally abrasive. We must remain kind, gentle, yet firm when taking opposing the ungodly culture. Jesus and Paul did not attempt to be culturally relevant, nor did they attempt to directly change the culture of their day. Rather they sought to draw men, women, and children away from the culture. This is the only way to be relevant and change the culture.

Romans 12:1-2 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." John said that we are not to love the world or the things that are therein, because that is enmity against God.

Let us then put aside the desire to be relevant and conformist. Let us rather aspire to pull souls from the culture and see them transformed to be into the image of Christ.

What About the Rest of the Story?

We just celbrated the Christmas holiday on the December 25. However, there are many trends that should disturb the dedicated Christian. How many of us listened and truly paid attention to the songs that were played over the radio, at resteraunts, or in stores? Did anyone pay attention to the lawn decorations or those that were sold in stores such as Wal-mart?

In many of the places that I shopped, I saw Christmas trees, ornaments for the same, lots of garland and tinsel, but almost nothing concerning the birth of our Lord in Bethlehem. I do not know that I saw one manger scene in the stores. Santa was very much in evidence in song and display, but no Christ child. Lots of lights, but no stable.

I listened to the radio, and I only heard two songs repeated on most of the secular stations. Those were 'Little Drummer Boy' and 'Do You See What I See'. Many of the more traditional Christmas hymns were sadly lacking, or if played, were only instrumental in composition.

The real problem is that we lost focus concerning the true purpose of Christmas. The birth of Jesus has no place in our understanding, without the knowledge that we are all sinners condemned to death. It has no context if one fails to consider the Cross, where Jesus took our curse and sins for us. Neither of these have any meaning without the resurrection and hope of His return.

Christianity has become so consumed with the commercialism that afflicts the culture, that it easier to see Jesus as the little babe in a manger, rather than the suffering Lamb being offered for our sins. It is easier to forget about Him at that point rather than face the truth about ourselves when we neglect to live by even His most basic precepts.

The reason that the culture does not enjoy the old hymns is simply that churches do not appreciate them any more. Both the secular and religious cultures have decided to write new songs that make us feel good about ourselves. There is no calling to account that we were the ones who caused God to come to earth as a man, bleed upon the Cross, and die in our stead. "Joy to the World', 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing', 'It came upon a Midnight Clear', 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', and many others remind us that we are sinners, Christ came to die to deliever us from sin, and that He is our Sovereign and Lord.

We enjoy singing the songs at this time of year, because they are filled with joy, hope, and love. However, it should always be remembered that only two Gospels dealt with His birth, but all four speak of His death. He said that His death was the reason that He came. He was born so that all men would have the opportunity to repent.

The truth of Christmas is the same as that of Easter. God was manifest in the flesh. He came to convict the world of sin while remaining pure. He then took our sins to the Cross and died. Three days later He rose from that grave so that we might know the hope of life eternal. He then walked the earth for many days and was seen by many of His disciples (far more than just the original 12), ascended to Heaven, and will be returning again as the Judge of all mankind.

The question is not what will you do about that babe in the manger, but will you submit to the King that was born on that day so very long ago? What will you do with the rest of the story?